Mulatto Moonchild
by bloodstained yinyang
Summary: AU. Inuyasha is a young hanyou learning to deal with the world around him, in a single-parent household (mother) in the slums. One day he meets a strange older boy, one with ears different from his and his mother's. Likely Inukag later on, and does anyone
1. Chapter 1

Mulatto Moonchild

At three years old, Inuyasha looked up as his mother walked in the door. Pulling away from the fat neighbor lady, all he saw was Mother, warm arms hugging him, smile on her lips. She was comfort; she was warmpth; she was love. She was home.

At six, he saw more- the tiredness in her eyes, the wearyness of her body. He climbed into her lap and snuggled against her, babbling on to cheer her up as Mrs. Mariko from next door went back to her childless apartment.

"Mommy, mommy, I made a new friend today!" he exclaimed, excitedly

"Did you, dear?" He sensed the distracted manner with which she ruffled his hair, eyes closed, enjoying the chance to rest her aching feet. So he tried harder to get her attention.

"His name's Sessy-sama." At this, her eyes snapped open.

"Sama? Not kun?" A note of anxiety in her voice

"He said 'call me Sess-sama.'" declared Inu, glad of her attention. She turned him around, looking into his young amber eyes.

"Inuyasha, I want you to know something. You are every bit as good as anyone else alive, and I don't want you to EVER let ANYONE look down on you."

He didn't understand it them; he had led a sheltered life until the day the white-haired 9-year-old lept into his backyard. Well, technically not HIS backyard- the common area behind the shabby, run-down apartment complex. "For Humans" read the sign out front- "Suitable only for rats" was what it meant. But this was his home, his haven; here he stayed all day, hidden from the prying eyes of the world, while his mother revelled in the emancipation her grandfather had faught and died to obtain by working as a servant to clean a Youkai's house. Not that he understood this; at least, not at six.

And Sessy had this air of cold indifference that Inu strove to emulate. He was a hero to youn Inuyasha, someone to be admired. Inuyasha felt honored to give him his precious toy plane; he later never questioned being asked to steal for his "best friend". At nine, he was deemed old enough to stay home alone, and 12 year old Sessy-sama taught him how to steal, a little of how to fight, how to walk tough, how to look innocent. One day, though, he dared to ask why his friend could never "play" before 3:15 every afternoon. The older boy regarded him with a cold smirk.

"Because I go to school, something a dirty halfbreed like you would never understand. And if you insist on behaving like an ignorant pinky, you should show more respect and call me Sesshomaru-sama."

Hurt by the sudden coldness, he had asked his mother about it later that night. "Mommy? Why does Sesshomaru-sama get to go to school and I don't?"

His mother sighed, sadly. "...In-chan... when you go out and about with Sessy, have you looked closely at the people? Did you notice that there's two kinds?"

"..um... tall ones and short ones?"

"No... here, come look out the window with me. See that woman? See how her ears are pointed? Now look at my ears. See how round they are? She's a Youkai, and I'm a Human. Youkai... they don't live like us. They have real houses, big ones with soft carpets and fluffy matresses. They get good jobs with lots of money, and their kids go to good schools."

"..But...why?"

His mother took a deep breath. "I don't know, honey. You're... you're better than any of them... but that's just how it is."

"But my ears arn't pointed OR round. Mine are puppy ears."

"That's because you're a mulatto, a mix. All the best of both- Youkai strength and a Human heart."

"... a dirty halfbreed."

She looked at him sharply, turning from the window. "Don't EVER let me catch you saying that again!You're beautiful and perfect. My little In-chan." Her gaze softened, and he saw her, REALLY saw her, for the first time. How weak she was, how frail. How broken her spirit was. He could imagine her loving a youkai- not sex, that was unfathomable to his young mind, that his mother could have had sex- but love, tenderness. A strong man, a youkai, and tender young Mother, as a maiden, trembling before him, comforted by his warm, reassuring embrace. Her so soft, weak, and him so strong, gentle. Yes, it was easy to see her falling for him... but why would a Youkai, one who has it SO good, lower himself to her level?

"...Why don't I have a father?"

The sharp intake of breath, the way she closed her large eyes, these he was acutely aware of. Silence fell. Each tic of the small, cheap wall clock was a lash on his young soul. Just when he thought he couldn't bear another second of it, when he was about to blurt out, mother, I'm sorry, forgive me... she spoke.

"Would you like to meet your father someday?"

"Yes!" A father! What a wonderful concept! To Inuyasha's little fatherless brain, he was Zeus, Jesus, and Shoeless Joe Jackson all in one. His mother nodded slowly.

"I'm sending you to school starting tomorrow. If you're a good boy and study hard, make yourself worthy of his attention... I'll try to get him to notice you."

"..but who IS my father?"

"...Inuhoshi Inutaisho-sama. A very powerful youkai buisnessman..."

"...Inuhoshi?" Inu whispered, not daring to listen to the rest his mother had to say. Inuhoshi.. he knew that surname. In his mind he saw the superior smirk of his "best friend"... Inuhoshi Sesshomaru.


	2. Chapter 2

Mulatto Moonchild ch 2

"Keh" snorted the teenaged hanyou, leaning against the wall in the classroom. He scanned the classroom with his amber eyes, his black leather jacket- stolen- rustling slightly. Indeed, the humans had picked on him for being different, but once he began to show them just how strong a youkai's muscles were, he gained instant respect. Respect? Alright, fear and loathing, but still. His current squeeze was a human named Kikyo, the minister's daughter. His experience had shown him that ministers' daughters tended to be even looser than normal girls, in rebellion against their oppressive fathers. Good enough. She probably suspected him of cheating on her- bad boys always cheated. Little did she know he wasn't.

However, it was not Kikyo his amber eyes were on this morning, but this new girl. She looked like Kikyo, smelled similar, but her clothes were too starched, her attitude too prim and proper. And upon closer inspection he could see that she just wasn't cool enough to be Kikyo. She didn't move like her or talk like her, and she wasn't nearly as pretty. "Feh, waste of time." he muttered to himself.

"What was that love?" asked the REAL Kikyo, coming up behind him and putting her arms around his waste. He grinned at her, showing off his fangs, and kissed her, savagely. Soon she tugged him into the broom closet for a little rough and tumble, and sure enough the poor teacher was late again, his wrists bearing suspicious rope burns. Inuyasha wiggled his ears a little at Kikyo, who grinned, feigning innocence.

"Class, today we have a new student. Please introduce yourself." The impostor-Kikyo stood up in the front of the class and bowed.

"Hajimimashite. Higurashi Kagome desu. Ichinensei desu. Doozooyoroshiku." Pleased to meet you, I'm Kagome Higurashi, a first year student. Please be kind. Then she sat back down after another bow, opening her notebook, ready to take notes. The teacher smiled faintly before settling in to teach with a resigned air.

To the surprise of all the embittered teens, as the teacher began to teach the same lesson for the third time that week- "Well, alright, if you don't understand we can go over it again"- the new girl was able to answer his questions. Not only that, she seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say. Inuyasha snorted to himself. _Teacher's pet... who's interested in this history bullshit anyway?_

After class, they cornered her in the schoolyard. Inuyasha, Kikyo, and Kikyo's friend Yura literally backed her into a corner of the fenced-in yard to pester her. AS the insults flew, Inuyasha played his part of just standing there looking tough, but some nagging part of him wondered what she did to deserve such hazing...

Kikyo held Kagome up against the wall while Yura picked her pockets of the meager 20 yen she had for lunch money for the week, then they left her in a puddle of mud, swaggering off. Inuyasha put the incident out of his mind. It was nothing special, after all.

When he finally returned home that night, Izayoi was sitting up, reading a letter she had received. Inuyasha, already taller than his slim, small mother, kissed the top of her head on his way to his room. "Yo mom." He might act tough, but he held a special place in his heart for Izayoi. So when she grabbed his hand, he paused, turning to look at her, curious. It was then that he noticed her tears.  
"...ma?"

"...your father is dead."

_A/N- sorry for such a short update, writer's block like mad. Quick note: remember Izayoi is his mother. Also remember that the Japanese school system is different- being a first year high school student makes Kagome 16. Inuyasha and Kikyo are both, in this chapter, the same age Kikyo was when she died- 18, 3rd year high school students, which in Japan is the same as seniors. _


	3. Chapter 3

Mulatto Moonchild

Chapter 3

It was downright irritating, is what it was. She was always looking at him, always with… pity and sympathy. She kept staring at his ears, even after Kikyo beat the everloving crap out of her a few times. She wasn't smart-mouthed, or arrogant, just… irritating.

"Keh, what are **you** staring at?" he snorted one day, causing the blushing girl to drop her gaze.

"I… they just look so soft… I wish I was a hanyou."

"..what the **hell** are you **on**, woman?" Muttering something about crack cocaine, he moved to sit on the other side of the room, licking his lips at Kikyou, who ignored him for a newspaper article she was reading to her cackling cronies. Inuyasha, unused to not being the center of attention, snatched it out of her hands deftly.

"What's this crap?"

Kikyou smirked, trying to take the page back; when Inuyasha leapt onto a desk to keep it from her, she suavely pretended not to care, instead answering his question. "Some bigshot furrbutt died, they're acting like we should care. Head of InuCorp, I guess, so some rich-ass mongrel."

Inuyasha scowled, his mood suddenly darkening. "That 'furrbutt' was my **father**."

Kikyou raised a perfectly polished eyebrow, her smirk plastered to her face. "oh-ho, I bet you got some money, then, ne? Little rich boy's too good for us now, huh? Should we bow and call you mas'ser?"

Inuyasha raised his lip to show a hint of fang at this sudden outburst. When he trusted himself to speak, his voice was so cold, it could have sunk the Titanic. "For your information, I never met him in my life. I didn't get a red cent from his ass. I doubt he knew I existed."

Kikyou's smirk grew crueler. "Then your mom was a fool who didn't know how to take advantage of an opportunity. If I got knocked up by some furry, I'd blackmail the asshole for all he was worth."

Inuyasha's hand was moving before he realized it; almost before he knew he had moved at all, he was staring dumbly at the small cuts on his girlfriend's cheek as Kikyou reeled backwards from the clawed slap. She stared up at him in horror for a moment, then recovered enough to spit on his sandaled feet and walk out of the room, her friends following.

For the first time since he was small, Inuyasha was utterly alone.

--------------------------------

"I told you, I have an appointment! I called a week ago! Inuhoshi Inuyasha, look it up, you stupid cow!"

The feline receptionist smiled wickedly. "There are laws against that sort of thing, you know."

"What sort of thing, making appointments?!"

"Perrrrjury. That means Lying." It was her condescending tone that really got under his skin, causing him to snarl in return.

"I'm no ignorant whelp, I know what **per**jury is, but I didn't lie!"

She smirked, her face twisted into the same mask of cool hatred Kikyo had displayed. "Of course you did. Inuhoshi-sama won't take kindly to a bastard halfbreed laying claim to his family name."

"But it's not a lie! I'm the son of the late Inuhoshi-sama, I'm Inutaisho's son!"

"Lord Inutaisho's only son is currently not seeing visitors."

"But I have an appointment…"

"I'm sure he has no wish to speak to an obvious imposter. Shall I call security?"

"..no need." Inuyasha turned like he was about to leave, then made a break for the door to Sesshomaru's office. Used to being stronger and faster than everyone else, he was very startled when the feline receptionist easily caught up and wrestled him to the ground. His shock lasted through his first night in jail, until his tearful mother picked him up in the morning.

"Promise me, son, you'll never do anything so reckless as to end up in jail again."

Inuyasha regarded his mother for a moment, feeling a twinge of pity for her tears, but knowing the truth that lay hidden within him, the basis of his futile struggles, the reason he knew he could never lie down and roll over on command. "…I can't, ma. A man's got to have his pride."


End file.
